OUR
AMBITION

RBS Retail Banking

This article first appeared in the Sunday Times on 11 March 2007.

You won’t find staff losing interest at The Royal Bank of Scotland’s retail banking division. This arm of the financial institution recognises effort, develops careers, rewards well and gives people choice. This investment is reflected in the positive attitudes of its staff, 30% of whom like working here so much they have been on the payroll for more than 15 years.

RBS Retail relies on its workforce of more than 9,200 to take care of the needs of its 3.5m personal and small business customers through a network of 655 branches, 1,700 cash machines, internet banking and 24-hour telephone banking services. So it takes care of them and wins a raft of top results in our employee satisfaction survey, including an 80% positive score for staff feeling their job is secure and 78% for feeling they can make a valuable contribution to the success of the organisation. Both scores are the highest for any of the big companies in our survey.

Staff feel valued and motivated — and working here literally pays dividends. For the past eight years, the bank has rewarded its employees with a bonus worth 10% of their salary following the announcement of its results — the maximum profit-share possible under its scheme. Once a year they are also invited to have a stake in the business’s future successes by signing up to its share option scheme.

A variety of award schemes recognise good work. Prizes vary from vouchers worth up to £1,000 to an all-expenses paid achievers’ event, which will be held this year in Lisbon. In addition, all employees with more than five years’ service are entered into a free prize draw once a month to win a car. No wonder then, that staff say their efforts are regularly appreciated by their managers (77%, and another top score).

When it comes to learning, employees are also quids in — last year a new overall training strategy was introduced. Messages from managing director Ewen Munro on RBS TV, updates in the staff magazine and open-door sessions with the senior leadership team keep people fully involved at work (78%, the second highest score). And, thanks to its flexible working policy, people are also happy with the balance between work and home life (71%, top again).

Staff have fun with their colleagues (80%), who go out of their way to help each other (76%) and care a lot about each other (78%). The bank also gets an 82% positive score for supporting its employees’ efforts to help good causes outside of the business, yet another top result.